View full sizeDAN GLEITER, The Patriot-NewsSilver Spring Township Constable J. Michael Ward and Middletown 1st Ward Constable Kevin Kelley have equipped their cars for their jobs and say they use them solely for constable work.

Midstate Constables Kevin Kelley and J. Michael Ward stress that they aren’t waging a court battle with the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation simply to get free municipal license plates.

Money isn’t even an issue, they said.

Their fight is about safety, for themselves and the public, and about ensuring that constables are properly recognized as law enforcement officers, Kelley and Ward said Friday.

That is why they are appealing PennDOT’s decision to rescind the municipal tags that for years have graced the bumpers of their specially equipped constable vehicles.

“They’re basically not recognizing the office of constable,” said Ward, of Silver Spring Township.

Kelley, based in Middletown, is waging his fight in Dauphin County Court while Ward presses his in Cumberland County Court. Both cases are to be heard by county judges next month.

The battles were triggered by letters the constables received from PennDOT on Sept. 13 announcing that their blue-and-white municipal plates were being suspended because they were “issued in error.”

“More specifically, the ... registration was issued to your vehicle without payment of the required fees,” the letter from Bureau of Motor Vehicles Director Anita M. Wasko stated.

The constables said PennDOT’s move caught them by surprise.

Kelley said he secured his municipal plate under the registration “Middletown Borough State Constable Office” after taking office in 2007. Ward got his in 2009.

Both men said they followed directions of PennDOT officials in applying for the plates and were preparing to write checks to pay for them before being told the plates are provided free as an intergovernmental courtesy.

“These constables did everything according to PennDOT’s rules, and now those rules have changed,” said William G. Stoeffler, a Jackson Township constable and spokesman for the Capital Area Constable Association.

Stoeffler, Kelley and Ward said they are baffled as to why PennDOT decided to pull the plates now. They said other constables across the state have reported the same thing is happening to them.

“There had to be some kind of catalyst, but we have no idea what it was,” Ward said.

“In general, however, municipal government plates are given to vehicles registered to municipal governments,” Buterbaugh said. “Constables are not municipal governments and are not eligible for municipal plates.”

While there are around 1,100 constables statewide, only about 5 percent have municipal license plates, Stoeffler said.

Only those who, like Kelley and Ward, have equipped their vehicles with special cages and other gear and use them solely for constable work qualify for the tags, he said.

Kelley said municipal plates are important because they help identify constables to the public, and to other police agencies, as law enforcement officials as they perform duties that include serving civil and criminal warrants and transporting prisoners.

“We think they enhance [constables’] safety out on the street,” said Philip M. Intrieri, the lawyer representing Ward and Kelley in their appeals.

Also, since municipal plates can’t be traced to a home address, they can’t be used by people who are angry about being arrested or being served with a warrant to find a constable’s home address, Kelley and Ward said.

“We want the same safety any police department has for their guys who are out doing their jobs,” Kelley said.

Intrieri said that by trying to pull Ward’s and Kelley’s plates, PennDOT might be straying into a policy area regarding constables “that would be better left to the Legislature.”

The plate battle also smacks of financial irony, Stoeffler, Ward and Kelley said.

While PennDOT is disputing a trifle — most vehicle registrations cost $36 — constables statewide collect tens of millions of dollars in traffic fines annually for that agency, they said.

Ward said a reasonable compromise to the plate fight would be for the state to issue a special constable tag. He said he’d gladly pay for it.

“They issue plates for everything else,” Ward said.

“We have sought a constable plate in the past and have been shot down by PennDOT,” Stoeffler said. “They refused to even consider it.”

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